Ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　Ｅｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　Ｃｈａｓｅ

“There has been an unexpected turn of events.” Doc said while we were walking. “And I said someone else might be sacrificed instead. I am so surprised that it could really happen!”
“Is there any danger for Devil?”
“Possibly, yes.”
“I don’t care whatever happens to that guy anyway.”
“Don’t be stupid! Never say such things. You know he has parents. And they love him.”
“Yeah I know. But…”
“Anyhow we should keep an eye on them.”
“Well, we should keep an eye on my father and his colleagues, too.”
“Of course yes. We should watch both of the groups.”
　So we spent the night downtown watching both of the groups. The ‘celebration group’ walked in high spirits compared to the ‘comforting group’ which walked a little slowly. My father’s group was a little slower and we walked between them watching back and forward. Then we finally approached the crossing; that was the fateful crossing where my father was doomed to be run over.
　The pedestrian signal was red and Devil’s group that arrived earlier was waiting for the signal to change as we arrived there while my father’s group was still approaching the crossing. There is the Karaoke lounge ‘Marine Bottom’ just beyond the crossing and Devil’s group was in good cheer and was making a lot of noise.
　Then the signal changed to green. And all of a sudden, Devil ran out onto the road and shouted,
“I’ve done it!!” Then he lay sprawled out on the crosswalk. I looked around to find a large truck going straight through the traffic light onto the crossing…

　To tell the truth, at the very moment, I thought even if he were run over, no one would help him since he was such a terrible guy… He’d blackmailed me. He’d hit me badly…
　But at the very moment, Doc put the large first-aid kit on the sidewalk, turned on the emergency signal light, then started running towards the truck waving the light and blowing the whistle noisily. So the truck driver braked hard and Doc managed to dodge the truck. Then he let go of the whistle and shouted,
“Hey, Ichiro! Pick him up!”
　Listening to his words, I came to my senses. And I rushed to Devil, Sombrero trailing behind me. I grasped both of his hands, then pulled them to raise him up. But he was fat and too heavy. So I called his name loud and said,
“Hey, Toshio! A truck is coming. STAND UP!!”
　Then he came to and immediately stood up. So I led him by the hand to the sidewalk. And just at that moment, the truck stopped on the crosswalk. The driver shouted,
“You damn fool!”
　And Devil, looking at me in surprise, then said,
“Why was I lying down on the crosswalk? A truck was coming. I don’t understand. I was about to be run over! So, well…, so Ichiro…, Ichiro! You’ve, you’ve…You've saved my… LIFE!"
　So he did a glance at the ground once, then looked at me once again and said hesitantly,
"Well…, I've hit your face badly again and again. And I've kicked, and I've blackmailed. Oh, what a fool I've been! And still, you've saved me. You've saved me! So I'm…,I’m… I'm forever in your debt!”
　Then we shook hands. I called Devil ‘Toshio’ and that is his name. I thought about it a bit.
　And soon after that, Doc ran up to us and said,
“Thank god. We’re all safe!” And we looked at one another.
　Then all of a sudden, someone shouted, “Wow!” and we looked at the direction of the voice to find a person lying down on the sidewalk. So we ran up to him and found that he was my father bleeding from his face. It seemed he had tripped on the big first-aid kit that Doc had put on the sidewalk. Then Doc opened the box and attended to his wounds. Doc said,
“Anyhow, here your father was destined to encounter some kind of misfortune. And it was very lucky that I’d put the box here.”
“But you put the box here and he tripped on it.”
“No. No. If I hadn’t put it here, your father might have run out onto the road.”
“OK. OK. I understand! There are millions of ways of thinking!”